The Wave Effect
by No Faith in Reality
Summary: One event. Although small, one simple event has the potential to change a person's entire life. Naruto could tell you that better than anyone.
1. Chapter 1

I have to say, I'm really excited about this project. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, 'The Professional' is a pre-existing story on this site written by author 'Another kind of hero'. Originally, the story was to be ended where she finished it off, but after a talk with author, she has agreed to allow me to 'adopt' the story as my own, in a sense, under conditions. I'm going to basically reproduce the first 4 chapters of the show. Afterwards, the story is mine to do with as I please... and I've gotta say, I'm definitely interested in being able to take such potential and plan to make it as good a story as I can possibly manage. With all of your help and support, of course.

Obligatory disclaimer goes here: I do not own Naruto.

That stated, let's begin.

* * *

Our story begins on a Tuesday morning, believe it or not. 6:59 to be precise, when most of Konoha was still either asleep and near ready to start their day, or while others who'd set there clocks earlier had already set up shop, and were busy about there everyday lives as usual. The village hidden in the leaves, being the peaceful epicenter that it was during this time however, enjoyed a natural feel of tranquility alongside the hustle and bustle of the everyday morning life that it went through. The trees still shimmered somewhat in the glow of the sun that was was brought out by the small drops of dew which clung to the green leaves upon them. The warm winds brought about by a temperate climate allowed for the dew-graced leaves to slowly and serenely dance in the midst of them. The local fauna, squirrels which scampered up and about the village buildings and trees, seemed to move just as the rest of the population did, unconcerned with any worldly problems, living it's life out happily and mildly, and even stopping every-so-often to take a second and literally bask in the gentle rays of sunlight that were slowly beginning to wash over the land from the tree tops and the like.

It is at this point in time, minus a few exceptions, that pretty much each and every child of Konohagakure lay sound asleep in bed trying to soak in that last minute of rest that came before they, too would start there day. Ino was one of those children, who lay quietly in bed, her blond hair pretty much the only thing sticking out from under her covers, her head instinctively turned away from the sun. She had determined the day before that today, being the student's day off from school, that she'd make the best out of it, no matter what. Oh, if only her blissful, sleeping mind would have had any idea how hard that would be. 30 more seconds, she had before her clock would go off and she'd be awoken... 10 seconds, 5, 4, 3-

"NARUTO, bet back here!"

The poor girl, so utterly taken by surprise at the sudden loud tone, literally jumped out of her bed, shrieking as if some odd force had struck her, and after wards landed with a stumble and a most unladylike fall on her behind, out of the bed. Heartbeat asunder, Ino looked drastically from left to right, trying her best to seek out the cause of all of the commotion, when just as suddenly, a loud ringing from behind her caused her heart to skip yet another beat, and forcing her instincts to haphazardly twist around in a complete 180, seeking out this second noise. However, this she had found to only be her own alarm clock...which was supposed to awaken a calm, refreshed Ino.

And currently, the girl sat motionless and dumbfounded on the wooden floor of her room, she could easily state, without any doubt in her mind, that she was definitely not calm. In fact, she was quiet frustrated. That was 3 seconds of her life gone down the drain. 3 seconds that could have been spent sleeping.

So, in a pissed-off-Ino-like manner, the girl slowly stood from her stupefied position and went to her window to take a peak outside and see exactly who it was, or even what it was, that had so suddenly awoken her 3 painstaking seconds ahead of schedule. Not out of curiosity, of course. You see, being Ino, and holding the reputation as one of the most cutest girls in your school, it was required that the young blond maintained a specific, uninterrupted cycle of daily events to keep her looking the best of the best... which this unknown assailant just ruined. So you see, it wasn't curiosity that caused Ino to look out her window. That is, unless you call singling out the next person to be on your hit list being curious. _'Where is he...?' _Ino thought to herself as she looked, watching out for several more minutes before giving up on it for now.

A smart move, considering what happened next.

Had Ino not moved her head coincidentally as she did, things might have gone much worse. Had Ino the resiliently honed senses that she would acquire later on in her life as a trained ninja. Sadly, she did not have the fore mentioned skills, and because of which it was only by luck that she was to pull her head back inside her window, when seconds later a foot from out of the proverbial blue landed clumsily and loudly onto the girl's window seal, exactly where she had her head moments ago. Needless to say, in the immediate moment that it happened, the resulting sound of a crash caused Ino to immediately squeak in utter surprise, and jerk violently away from her window, causing her to yet again trip back off of her balance, and fall roughly To the ground with another rather audible thump. Once again, her heart rate rose dramatically, and once again she immediately looked to locate the source of her scare...

Only to see a blur of unsightly orange jump yet again, this time from her window seal to the ground, and rushing away.

_'Naruto.'_ A foul mood suddenly changed to a worse one. In the girl's mind, some part of her all but exploded, while another part of her wanted to slap herself for not expecting it either way. Who else, at 7:00 in the morning, had the nerve to be up and already wreaking havoc in the village? More to the point, who was practically one of the _only_ children that had the nerve to cause havoc in a city of _ninjas_? As her heart rate slowed again, a rather prudent scowl made it's way onto Ino's face, the first of many to come. The morning had only been a minute and 30 seconds in at the most, and the poor girl already hated the day with a passion. It was at this moment that Ino, with a face of sheer annoyance, decided that no good could come of this day.

"...And I'm going kill that Uzumaki Naruto." She muttered under her breath in an equally venomous tone.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, for Ino, the rest of her morning went swimmingly. After her little 'incident', she was able to go on to have a nice shower, lotion up, comb and condition her hair many times over, and proceed to eat breakfast with her family... which served to be yet another string off of confusion that offered Ino no answers at the end. But other than the 'grown-up' small talk that occurred, there wasn't really too much of anything eventful. Just as well, Ino had thought, as that was how a morning should have been. Fresh, calm, cool... no disturbances... no orange -clad kid jumping from window seal to window seal...

_Naruto._

Ino could hardly contemplate how anyone at all, in the world or the next, could be so... annoying. It was truly the perfect word for his pranks, his behavior, his very attitude that even a 7-year old Ino could call childish. It was too much to bring to mind. She couldn't even stand to be near the boy. He just... stood out too much. He was the kind of in-your-face individual that even a well trained ninja couldn't deal with. He was... in truth, he was farsightedness in human form. At least, that was what her father had called him.

"Farsightedness? What's that?" A curious Ino asked as she and her parents walked to the ninja academy. Today was the registration day this year, and rather than wait around for it, Inoichi decided that it would be best that they went and registered early in the morning.

"It's an eye condition, dear." Amaya Yamanaka, Ino's mother spoke up, addressing the question. "It's medically referred to as Hyperopia, but they both mean the same thing. It's... well, how should I put it..." It took her only a couple of moments to put the definition in a '7-year-old' format. "Well, it's when someone can't see close objects very well, and sometimes can't see far objects, either." Amaya explained, hoping her child understood well enough.

The definition, however, didn't confuse her. "Well, yeah, but how is that Naruto?" Ino asked blatantly, her mother's words having not shed much light on what Inoichi had said. Luckily, the quietly watching father decided to step in now.

"When you cannot see something, sometimes you have to strain your eyes to find the beauty in it. But to strain yourself, you put unnecessary unease upon yourself. Just as well, if the object in mind is a rather outstanding piece, then it would already hurt one's vision further. It becomes more a burden than a desire to see the beauty in something some bold... and because of which, most normally tend to cast such an object aside. And of course, there are always those who will look at true art... and give it a demonic connotation from past experiences..." His words, so oddly serene, sounded so much more like a testament of some sort than an explanation that Ino had thought that the subject had, at some point, actually changed. Amaya, scared suddenly that the conversation was about to turn down a direction it could not, was ready to intervene.

"...Are we still talking about Naruto...?" Ino spoke after a moment of silence, actually nervous about speaking again. Inoichi, who suddenly realized how grave the statement much have sounded, stopped and actually laughed off the fore coming moment of awkwardness, running a hand through his tanned blond hair. "Ha, well, of course! I mean, ah..." Amaya let out a quiet sigh of relief, her tension fading. "Well, in any rate, Naruto is just a misunderstood kid trying to get attention, the way I see it. Most likely, if he got that, then I would be willing to bet that he'd be less... annoying, as you called it." He finished with a smile. Ino thought he was going senile.

"Attention? You think he acts like a idiot for attention?" The statement seemed like a double standard to Ino, at least. After all, if someone acted like Naruto did towards her, she'd ignore them completely. Ino personally thought that if he wanted to get attention, he should actually DO something with himself, not goof off. "That's silly, dad! I mean, his parents must not care very much if they let him act like that... they don't bring him up right."

Inoichi, however, simply shrugged his daughter's accusing tone off. "I suppose parents could have a little to do with his...behavior, and I suppose that an active parenting is key in raising a child... still, not everyone has a mom and dad like you do, Ino." There was a hint of sincerity in his voice, however Ino most likely didn't hear it. No, she was too caught up in her thoughts of finally getting somewhere in the mystery of understanding Uzumaki Naruto.

"Wha...?" Ino didn't truly understand her father. He was, no matter what the case, sympathizing with the worst troublemaker in konoha. And she was utterly confused as to what he was implying to, so trying to understand his words was like putting jelly on two sides of a piece of bread. She shrugged and put it to the back of her mind for now, deciding that if there was anyone she could bring it back up with, it was--

"Yo, Ino!"

Ino stopped point blank in the middle of the street and turned to find the familiar voice. Sort of a pudgy -sounding tone, like a voice belonging to a bigger person... "Choji?" Ino blinked. Yes, Choji, her stubby friend was standing not to far off to her left, tucked nicely under the shade of a canopy. His near-completely round shape and chubby cheeks were always both a revolt and a humorous subject towards the girl. The little mini-swirl clan markings and his stubby nature did nothing better for him. Honestly, in Ino's opinion, she sometimes pitied the boy. he was short, unusually big for his age, and was constantly eating. Her father once explained to her that seeing as their clan specialized in body-form changing techniques, but Ino didn't how it could make much of a difference. After all, if it meant giving up your figure and social life just so you can grow up to be stronger, was it really worth it? When Ino would ever reach conclusions like these, she would indecisively put the subject aside, figuring that Choji knew what he wanted to do with his life one way or another.

accompanying him on the shaded bench, Ino saw Shikamaru as well, yet another friend of hers since earlier years. He, unlike her chubbier friend, was holding his head in his hands, obviously bummed out. Why, Ino didn't know. She never knew, and he would always act like this around. She never understood him... and because of which, she one day decided that if he wanted to act like a lump in the dirt, she'd respond to it accordingly. Truthfully, she couldn't stand seeing him in that... 'blah'-ish cheerful she was on any daily basis, the 'blah' of Shikamaru would drain the energy out of her. it was precisely why she was the way she was, the determinate, the stubborn, the in-your-face individual that put such a bold out look on life... because of annoying people like that Shikamaru.

Yes, even Ino had people who she'd rather not be seen with...

"Hey!" Choji called with his free hand once more, seeing as the other held a large bag of beef flavored potato chips. Ino repressed a sigh. Somethings never changed. "My dad's already inside, signing me up for this year. Shikamaru's parents got here even earlier; they were finishing up by the time my mom and dad got here!" Ino blinked. Shikamaru's parents were early birds? That was news to her; she'd never seen them in the early morning, so she'd assumed that like Shikamaru, they were just as lazy. _You learn something everyday, I guess._ She thought to herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and moved along with her parents, finally making their way into the school. "You guys wait up for me afterwards, 'kay? I'll be right back!" She called back to Choji and Shikamaru, the former nodding and the latter sighing in response. _So that means that Shikamaru's just a lazy bum! I'm so not gonna let this drop._ Ino chuckled a little to herself as she walked up to keep pace with her parents.

* * *

"Whaddaya mean 'I can't register myself!?'" Why was the line so long for registrations, Ino had once wondered. Surely, all you really had to do was walk in, pay tuition for the next year, and sign papers, right? There were even two registration booths! She could do something like that in a heartbeat, so why did it take others so long? Standing just far enough inside of the lobby of the konohagakure ninja academy, Ino finally got her answer. The reason was the fact that one of the booths was, in fact pre-occupied.

"Stop dicking around and let me sign up, damn it!"

Permanently.

The girl's face faulted at the sight. The booths were basically two tables, separated by a wall divider that stood about 7 feet high. Both desks were owned by a separate chuunin (or jonin, Ino couldn't tell) that helped to ease the returning students through the registration process. And low and behold, through all of the order, a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed young boy was standing atop one of the registration desks... just as well, all of the papers previously neatly assembled on the desktop were scattered. The chuunin sitting behind the desk, a young, svelte man with brown hair, mousy facial features, and a leaf headband that he wore dangerously low, covering his eyebrows, sat with a easily readable disgruntled expression.

"...Naruto," The man suddenly spoke up after a few moments of silence from the boy's outburst. He apparently knew Naruto quite well, from the look in his eyes... and the fact that he was still calm. "You know you have to wait until Lord Hokage-sama arrives for him to register you for this year of school. Why don't you just wait outside, and let everyone else get through with their registration...?" He asked with as quiet a voice as possible, apparently deciding that getting just as loud as Naruto would do no good.

"Screw that! Just let me do it myself, I know how!" Apparently, however, this did not settle down the rambunctious Naruto, who stomped his foot down in protest on the desk, which wobbled in response. "I got hear first, before everybody else! It's not fair that just because they got somebody to-- What, you got something to say!?" Mid-sentence, the blond boy whipped his head around and laid piercing eyes onto the other chuunin who was sitting behind his respective desk. Ino hadn't seen why or where this sudden outburst came from; she hadn't been looking at the man in question, so she didn't see anything. Inoichi, however, saw the whole act in progress, and had quietly continued to watch as Naruto made a nice little mess of the system in place.

"...W-what? No one's paying you any attention, brat, so cut the though guy act. Get out of the way, or we'll get security." The chuunin spoke, obviously less patient with the boy than his co-worker. He and Naruto had started a sudden, flat-out glare match that caused the front of the room to quiet just a little. Naruto had 'I'm 2 seconds away from beating you down' written all over his face, and just as well, the chuunin had 'Try me' written all over his. And for the oddest reason, as she stood just as silent behind her father, her heartbeat slowly beginning to rise, Ino found herself worried... yes, worried that the resulting ending to this stare-off would not be pleasant. She waited, and waited, and watched for the edge, looking for someone to do something here... But, when someone did, it was the most unexpected thing she'd thought could happen.

"...Excuse me, Seiza..." Amaya, who'd been quiet the whole time until now, suddenly spoke up. Seiza, who'd been nearly too embroiled in his glare-fest with Naruto, blinked suddenly and looked forward again to give Amaya his attention. "If it's okay with you, and the rest of us here... would it be okay if Inoichi and I registered the boy while we're here?" Her question turned the heads of many, including her own daughter. Ino had looked to her mother as though she'd just praised the devil just now. Sure it was a solution and all but... since Naruto had no parents, they'd be registering him under their name! That meant that whatever trouble he'd get into, it'd be brought straight up with her parents, and that any conferences, meetings, or anything of that sort would fall on their shoulders... it was practically putting him in their family! Ino quickly looked to her father for some sort of help here, some sort of counter or response, something, anything!

"...Actually, I think that's a great idea. I'm surprised I didn't think of it, ha ha!" Inoichi proclaimed to his wife, who took it as his approval and smiled to him.

Ino wanted to throw up.

"Err... well, normally, the boy is supposed to wait for Lord Hokage-sama's arrival to be registered into the new year of school..."

Wait, was that hope? Maybe it wasn't time to give up yet!

"But... if you want that burden on your shoulders, I suppose it's fine as long as you go and report this afterwards."

No, never mind. Ino sighed and drooped her head at this; Naruto, who'd been just as quiet as he was clueless the entire time, just sat there, buzzed. The mousy chuunin, who was sadly still staring at Naruto's overincredulous orange bottoms, gave a small 'ahem' to get the boy's attention. Funnily, Naruto snapped to it.

"Umm... Naruto, these people here just sorta decided to sign you up for this year of school..." He started, which immediately caught the still confused boy's attention, "...So, if it's okay with you... could you please step down off of my desk now...?" Slowly, within the blond boy's mind he put 2 and 2 together. "...Wait, so you mean--?"

The chuunin nodded.

"Then, they'll--"

The chuunin nodded again.

"So I don't have to--"

"Naruto..." He warned. The response he got was different this time. No more blabbering, he jumped back off of the desk and gave a loud "Woo Hoo!" of victory (to what, no one knew), startling several. He turned around and walked over to the family of three, and without warning grasped Inoichi's larger hand in his own two, and shook it. "You guys are the best! You're uh... Ino's parents, right?" Naruto asked, as though it weren't the most obvious thing in the world. "Thanks a bunch!" Inoichi patted the younger boy on the head, chuckling under his breath.

"It's no problem at all, really. We'll handle everything here... so, why don't you go on ahead and wait outside. When we're done in here, we'll come and tell you, okay?" Inoichi told the boy, who nodded halfway through the explanation just to save time. Oddly, the Yamanaka family was one of the few sets of people in Konoha that Naruto, bold as he was, felt he could trust. Why? One day, a little while back, he'd run into them at the Ichiraku ramen bar while he was hanging out with his favorite teacher, Iruka Umino. They sat and talked, and from what the blond could tell about Amaya and Inoichi (and he had a knack for being right about these things) they were seemingly good people. After all, anyone who knew good ramen was a good person in Naruto's mind.

"Actually," Amaya, who'd been listening and nodding to her husband's words, spoke up again, "Weren't Shikamaru and Choji waiting outside for you, Ino? Why don't you go on outside with Naruto and catch up with them? I'm sure they're still sitting out there." Ino blinked, a seriously disturbed expression on her face. "Wh-what? Mom, no! Why?" She immediately retorted strongly, looking from her, to Naruto... and back to her. What she asked was completely out of the question. There was no way she could be seen walking around with... _him!_ She'd rather be grounded for life!

"Now Ino, that's no way to make friends. Go on, go and lead Naruto on out of here and play with your other friends." She said more curtly than she'd spoken before, but the dulled... well, 'kindness' in her sheer presence lingered. Naruto, who looked unaffected by either of there words, simply looked to Inoichi with a confused face. Inoichi, who'd only looked down at the boy just then, chuckled. If words could be transferred without speaking, he was clearly stating "Don't worry, they're always like this."

Stomping her foot in frustration... as well as embarrassment at the fact that they'd suddenly gained a few onlookers, Ino defended her stand. "Mom, there's no way I'm going to play with him at all!" She said plain and simple, putting her hands to her hips, and delivering as much attitude as she could at her age. There, she'd said it. She wasn't going to go and play with Naruto, and that was that. There was nothing, nothing in Ino's mind that her mother could do to change her own stand!

* * *

"You know, your mom's pretty scary! How do you deal with that?" Ino sighed, her head hanging in pure and utter defeat. She walked slowly, moping, frowning. She did it. Somehow, through Ino's triad, her mother had sentenced her to go and take Naruto with her as she went to go and play with Shikamaru and Choji... Darn her. Ino rarely had someone force her to do anything; contrary to what most thought, she was 'very' rational when she wanted to be. She made her own decisions, and that's how she liked it. But when people like her mother and father stepped in between those decisions, she had no control over what the outcome was. So here she was, walking an already very irritating Naruto right in front of her, who'd been blathering on about absolutely nothing for the past 3 minutes... like she was supposed to care that the three minutes it took for ramen to be made was annoying.

"You get used to it. It's almost the same as dealing with you." The girl mumbled blatantly, and pushed passed Naruto as they reached the outside of the school. Oddly enough... Choji and Shikamaru weren't sitting in the same place as they were before, underneath the canopy opposite the school. Interesting... but before the girl could speak her thoughts, Naruto beat her to the punch.

"I thought you said they were out here! Where'd they go, anyway?" Naruto asked the blond girl, who in response shook her head. "How am I supposed to know, Naruto...? They were sitting over there--" Suddenly, something occurred to the girl. They weren't there. What an opportunity... if they'd been sitting there, she would have actually _had _to continue talking with Naruto.

"Well, it looks like they went home. Oh well. Why don't you head on back to the orphanage or where ever it is you stay?" Ino stated with a clear and level tone. A half-though through plan. With Choji and Shikamaru missing, she could get Naruto to go away with an excuse. Perfect. "I'll just go tell mom that Choji and Shika left, k? Well, see ya." She said almost in one, quick breath, already turning around and in the process of walking away from the boy, before he spoke up.

"Yeah... hey, why don't we just hang out? We don't need Choji or Shikamaru. We can have fun without them!" He said with a smirk. Ino rolled her eyes, apparently not on the same level with Naruto at the moment. Her back already to him, Ino shook her head and looked over her shoulder with the best fake smile she could muster. "Maybe later, when mom and dad aren't busy, okay? I'll catch up with you later." She said as sweetly as she could muster. Judging from the look on Naruto's face, he bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh... well, okay! You know where to find me if ya change your mind!" He said brightly, bringing up his great big smile, before turning away and walking off towards where Ichiraku's ramen stand was. Ino waited until he was fully and completely out of sight before letting out a huge sigh of relief. Easy. That boy was just too easy. Too simple.

"That wasn't nice, Ino." The girl froze on the spot, her breath hitched in her throat. That voice was oh-too-familiar... older, wiser... and simply hearing it at the moment was enough to scare Ino into a 'red handed' jolt. She looked around, searching for the voice's owner, and gulped hard when she did find it. "H-h-hokage-sama!" Yes, standing not to far away from where the girl was, at the same corner which the canopy where Choji and Shikamaru were sitting, was none other than the old man himself, all dressed and adorned in his ceremonial Konohagakure robes. Amazing, Ino once pondered, how the bottoms of the robes always dragged on the floor, yet never seemed dirty.

Never before did Ino feel so guilty in her life.

"On one hand, I must admit that you can put up quite a mask, especially when trying to ease away from something you really don't feel like doing." A smile tugged on the lips of the older man as he took a moment to take the tobacco pipe out of his mouth, and put out the small, invisible ember that kept it alight in the wide in of it. Had to be environmental around the kids, anyway. "On the other, I do think that you really waste that talent when you use it on a friend." He said finally, putting the pipe away after tinkering with it a little.

"But... hokage-sama, Naruto's like... he's not really my 'friend'..." Ino started, trying to configure some sort of an explanation. There was no point in lying to the hokage; after all... he was the HOKAGE. His name itself begged respect. Plus there was that one story of him being able to see through anything... amazing story, really. "I really just don't like being around him... he's rude, and annoying, and he just acts like he doesn't have any manners!" The girl stated out of distress. Sarutobi, who'd been sitting quite comfortably under the canopy (when he got there from the corner, Ino wasn't sure), nodded, with a small smile still playing on his lips.

"Hahaha... noted, with some minor exceptions." He said somewhat cheerfully. Of course, his response confused Ino, who tilted her head to the side as though the new angle would help her somehow get a better idea of what he meant, so Sarutobi gestured for her to come and join him under the shade of the canopy. When she did so, he took in a nice breath of air, before continuing. "Minor exceptions, little Ino, that come from the fact that some of Naruto's downsides aren't fully his fault." He finished, albeit softly. Ino still obviously had no idea what the hokage was getting at, and seeing this, Sarutobi smiled.

"Well, Ino, let's think back... you said that, if recall correctly, he's 'rude, annoying, and acts as though he has no manners.' I think... and it's only my personal opinion, but I think that his rudeness comes from the fact that Naruto does, after all, have to fend for himself on several occasions. I'm sure that you've noticed." Some form of realization clicked in the young girl's mind. Fending for himself... wasn't that what he was doing earlier, in trying to register himself? As though he understood her lack of argument as an answer, the older man continued.

"Well then, you might take the argument further. You could go on to say that even though he might have to fend for himself on some occasions, shouldn't he still act civilized in public? Rather than cause disruptions, shouldn't he just deal with in a more discrete way?"

"Y-yeah! Exactly, hokage-sama, that's what I mean!" Ino responded, completely overcome by the hype of this conversation. So someone else DID share her thoughts, the hokage no less! That definitely meant Naruto was in the wrong!

"Of course, then you'd have to figure that... Naruto doesn't have anyone to look up to 24/7 that can teach him right from wrong." His words, that small counter-argument literally stunned Ino, like a slap to the face. That was true. Naruto was an orphan, he didn't have parents... "But... Hokage-sama, Naruto stays in an orphanage, doesn't he? Wouldn't the head of the orphanage be like his... parents or something?" She asked, still trying to find some way to 'win' this argument... seeing as all of her hype was just shattered.

"Very optimistic, little Ino. Yes, under normal circumstances, that would be the case..." Sarutobi broke off here. How far was he taking this conversation? There were laws in place, laws that he himself had set up, that prevented even him from going too far. But... he looked down at the seven year old girl, her eyes staring back up at him with actual curiosity, an actual need to understand... A small glimmer of concern.

How far was he going to go for a small glimmer of hope?

"...However... I'm sure that you've noticed that... Naruto isn't exactly 'treated like family' by anyone... haven't you?" Ino frowned. That was true. She could always tell... on any occasion that Naruto happened to be around, she could tell by the looks on any civilian's face, no matter the person... only a select few, like her mother and the hokage, actually ever smiled at him. She thought that it just stemmed from his being annoying... it did, didn't it? Sarutobi, no longer waiting for a response, answered the silent question. "Have you ever heard of the old riddle, 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' Strange riddle indeed. Most would say that the chicken must have come first... but then where exactly did the chicken come from? Was it always there, or did it, perhaps... evolve from something that was previously there?"

Ino was a bright girl. Very bright, in fact... she was one of the highest ranking female students in the academy. Soon to be a kunoichi, her intellect was one of the things she trusted most, even more than her strength. Sarutobi knew this, for the most part, and realized that, as the girl's brows furrowed down for a moment before she nearly jumped up and looked at him with realization... perhaps he'd said enough. Quiet, they both sat for a moment, before the hokage, tilting his hat as the sun started to move into the canopy, spoke again.

"I'm curious, little Ino. Tell me... if you thought that one thing could change how 'rude, annoying and manner-less' Naruto was, what would it be?"

Such a question. Almost like a game, and yet, Ino didn't respond. Something was growing within her, something strange, something of an emotion that she couldn't understand, so much like realization... but it felt so wrong. One thing was for certain... she'd just lost the argument. "...I think..." But she couldn't answer. That emotion inside her was raging now; crashing like waves inside her, making her so afraid to speak, so afraid that it would overflow, somehow. But the answer was there. Something she couldn't see, couldn't have realized before today. So odd, how a riddle could change a person's point of view.

"...If he only had--"

"Ino? Oh, there you are-- Ah, lord Hokage-sama! Such a nice surprise to see you here!" Her train of thought broken, Ino looked up to find that exiting the ninja academy and approaching them were her mother and father... the former who'd just spoken. Amaya had now stepped off to the side to talk with the hokage now, and Inoichi approached his daughter, who in turn hopped up off of the bench of the canopy to meet him halfway.

"Ha... sorry it took us so long, Ino. I didn't figure signing up two children would take so long." He said with a chuckle, a sheepish look about his face. Ino shook her head and smiled. "It's ok, dad, I was just talking with the hokage-sama. Shika and Choji went home, so... yeah." She said, as if it were some feat of amazement. Oddly enough, to some, it was. "Well aren't you just special since you can talk with the hokage." He said in a mockingly sad tone. Then, something occurred to him. "Hmm? I thought Naruto was out here with you. Where is he?"

Something like a guilt saturated knife stabbed the poor girl in the stomach. "Oh, I think he went back to the orphanage..." She felt like she was lying. Technically it wasn't a lie if she left out what happened... right? As long as he didn't ask, it wasn't a lie... Inoichi tilted in confusion, not only of her answer, but the sudden look of disdain on her face. "Hmm... I see. Oh well, I suppose that as long as he's registered, that's a good thing, right Ino?"

But Ino didn't respond. Mentally, she was trying fruitlessly to clear her mind. Realization was killing her.

"...Well, it has truly been a pleasure to get this chance to talk with you, lord hokage-sama. Perhaps, if you're not too busy, you could join our family for lunch?" Ino heard her mother say, looking back at the two. What had they been speaking of, anyway? Had he told her of the conversation they'd just had? "Ah, I do wish I could, however you know this job keeps me on my toes." He said, politely declining. "Well then, I'll be off. Oh, and Ino," With a blink, the girl looked to him, "You would do well to keep what we just talked about in mind, ok?" He made a little hand gesture of pointing to his head beneath his head with a smile, before turning and walking onwards into the school. Ino wanted to call after him, to confirm this strange new thought, this new point of view with him, but she didn't.

"So then, Ino, what did you and the hokage talk about?" Her mother asked as they proceeded home. Ino, who only half heard her, gave the best answer she could.

"Oh... that riddle with the chicken and the egg..."

* * *

Ino did not sleep well that night. She laid in bed restlessly for a very long time, having gone straight to her room after dinner. She thought that an early night's sleep was exactly what she'd needed... but apparently it wasn't. After about an hour of tossing over in her bed countless times, the young blond got up, and went to go have a seat at her window seal, figuring that perhaps the sight of a starlit sky would clear her mind of whatever it was that was troubling her so badly.

The truth was that the only thing keeping her up tonight was that conversation she'd had with the hokage. The words that were spoken still rung in her head as clear as daylight, and that sickening feeling of self-realization wouldn't go away. It was annoying to think that perhaps, just perhaps, she wasn't sure of something. But she wasn't. She wasn't sure of anything at all now, and as decisive a person as Ino was, that was disturbing.

All of this centered around Naruto. That boy that just about everyone seemed to dislike, the kid that had no friends, no family, and acted like he didn't have a care in the world. Only a few hours ago, he would have been the last thing that she'd ever think of. He had no affiliation to her whatsoever, and as such, Ino felt that from the distance that she'd always watched Naruto from, she could see that there was absolutely nothing else to him but the prankster, the fool, the class clown... the nobody.

So odd, how a riddle could change a person's point of view.

Ino had always figured that there was nothing else to Naruto. But maybe that was only because she didn't look hard enough. Maybe that was why everyone hated him so badly, because they didn't look past the childishness of his outside, or his pranks, or whatever he could come up with to keep konoha so chaotic. Maybe... it was really just like the hokage had said. Maybe it was all... just part of a mask. Just part of a facade that Naruto kept up constantly for some reason... maybe the truth was, while everyone was convinced that they knew Naruto plain and simply, no one really did...

Stressed, the girl ran a hand through her long locks and shook her head, moving from her window seal and to the mirror that sat atop her dresser now. Why should she care though!? Why did it bother her so much that Naruto had the _possibility_ of having more to him than meets the eye? She was a seven year old! She shouldn't have to care about other people yet, right? Trying to see through masques, to understand how someone else felt-- Ino was young! She shouldn't have been worried about it in the first place! She didn't want to care if Naruto was different; she didn't want to care about him at all!

_'But that isn't true, is it? I am concerned about him, I'm worried about the fact that there may just be more to Naruto than meets the eye.'_ Ino couldn't stand it. She felt as though she was contradicting herself; stopping herself from thinking the way she wanted to think, feeling the way she wanted to feel. She was struggling against herself suddenly; she was fighting herself internally, fighting a part of herself that she wasn't sure she wanted to side with; The collision of two forces within her, neither registering as a force of 'good' to the young girl, was almost too much for her to handle.

_Why should I care about anyone other than myself!?_

Ino's breathing became restricted; the harder she tried to inhale, the less she was able to. She needed air, space... the top of her dresser was so clustered with items that it hurt her eyes to look at it all suddenly. She flung her arm roughly across the dresser top, knocking just about everything that was on it to the floor with several thumps. She felt her legs giving out to the stress of the war within herself, but she struggled to keep herself standing, using the support of the dresser. She still couldn't breathe... she felt sicker than before.

_I don't care about Naruto; Why should I!? He's nobody to me!_

Waves of mental pain racked Ino's body. She looked into the mirror, looking at it as though she were looking for some answer, something, anything to help her escape this stress that suddenly filled and terrified her so. She found nothing but the reflection of herself, staring desperately back at her, gasping for breath like a poor child with asthma. There was nothing else there.

_I don't care about anyone._

"Th... That's not true..." The girl whispered to herself between gasps. Her breathing became worse. The struggle inside of herself worsened.

_I only care about myself; no one else matters to me._

"No..." Ino whimpered; she felt tears welling up in her eyes at this point. She couldn't take it; this pain, this stress, this struggle inside herself. She looked to the mirror once more, looking for the reflection again, looking for herself in the glass. She found a reflection, but it was not of her own. It was a blond, thin young 7 year old girl looking back at Ino with glaring eyes, cold eyes that seemed to pierce into Ino's soul.

"Just who do you think you are, anyway? Why do you expect so much out of yourself? You're seven years old. You're a small, weak, frail little girl who can't do anything for herself. You're pathetic." The image in the mirror spoke. Ino's eyes dilated almost inhumanely; she had to have been hallucinating. Her reflection... what was this?

"Look at yourself. This is all there is to you, Ino. You're simple-minded, annoying to everyone else around you, selfish... you don't even care about your friends, do you?" The image spoke again, putting a single hand on her hip in a very Ino-like fashion.

"That's not true..."

"You never were exactly the caring type though, were you? I mean, really... the way that you treat Shikamaru, Naruto... Oh, no, everyone treats Naruto that way, so I guess that pardons you form it, right? I mean, if everyone else hates him, why shouldn't you?" The reflection shrugged in a very nonchalant manner, still looking down on a somewhat cowering Ino with pitying eyes.

"N-No, that's not-- I, I don't treat..." Ino found herself absolutely confounded. She felt like an idiot for the first time in her life; There wasn't even a proper excuse for what the reflection of herself had just stated. She couldn't lie to this being, she couldn't understand why, nor did she care why. The war within her still raged, and her thinking was not clear at all. But there was one thing she understood, and that was this reflection's words; everything it said... was true. Every little snipe it had taken at Ino, she could not defend herself against... because it was her own thoughts, turned against her.

"You don't treat...? You don't treat Shikamaru like he doesn't have business of his own? You don't abuse the fact that you can blame, assault, or insult him to make yourself feel superior whenever he's around? Or... were you going to refer to Naruto...? Were you about to tell me that you don't treat him like... well, less than garbage?"

"No, th- that's isn't true... Naruto's... he's..." Once more, Ino was left wordless. And it hurt more this time.

"He's what? A friend? You know, if you're going to lie, at least do it about something less obvious. Quite frankly, Ino, I do think that if you had to choose between Naruto's life and a date with someone like choji--"

"Shut up! That's not true!" Ino hadn't the slightest clue where this outburst had come from, but it brought the pain of her struggle right back; Her breathing became hitched again, and she slowly attempted to step away from the mirror. She needed air, space... she needed to escape this horrifying truth that her reflection told her...

"Oh, really? Ino, you don't care about him. You never cared about his life, if he was ever in pain, you could care less if--"

"Shut up!!" She screamed. Tears leaked from her eyes. It was true. It was all true.

"You're pathetic... you really are, you know that? You're fighting the fact that you don't care... why? To make yourself feel better? That's it, isn't it? All this time, you were only trying to make yourself fell better--"

It was at this point that Ino, who'd lost control of herself, grabbed the nearest object and threw it at the mirror. She didn't care what it was, what would happen to the mirror or the object... she just needed the ability to drown out that voice, to free herself of that struggle inside, and let it all go.

"SHUT UP!! I do care! I care! I want to care! I want to care!!" She screamed to no one in particular, tears of painful release streaming down her face. Nothing mattered anymore, nothing seemed real to Ino at this moment. She wasn't even sure she was still in her room. For all she cared, she could have been falling from the hokage monument. This Epiphany, this sudden realization, it shook her, her entire being. She felt like a burden had just been lifted from her shoulders, like the world had just become brighter, more vivid... she felt like she'd just awakened from a nightmare.

Footsteps thundered through the stairway to her room. Within seconds, the girl's door was flung open, and at it stood both her mother and father, nearly toppling over one another to get to Ino, who now lay sprawled on the floor, crying lifelessly. Her mother was quickest, having been in front of Inoichi the entire time. She rushed to her daughter's side, worry apparent on her face as she scooped her up into her own arms, picking her head up from the carpeted floor. She looked to find injury of any kind, any at all, but the only thing out of order that she could see was Ino's face, tears leaking from her eyes which now looked up at Amaya.

"Ino, what's wrong? Are you okay? What happened, your things are all over the floor--" Ino suddenly jolted to life, as if remembering her predicament. She stopped her mother mid-sentence, something she'd never done before in her life, and and spoke wildly, rapidly, with such fear in her voice as though she might lose it if she stopped.

"I couldn't- I was- I talked with the Hokage, and he told me about Naruto and I told him I thought he was annoying and he told me the riddle about the chicken and the egg and I couldn't understand it because I had this feeling inside me like all my life I've been doing something wrong but I didn't say anything and he asked me if I could change one thing about Naruto what would it be, but I didn't know how to answer it, so I tried to sleep on it but I couldn't sleep and I kept thinking about it and this voice in my head said I- I..." Unable to continue any further, Ino felt her body once more rack with stress, but it gave way as her mother hushed her and pulled her in as close as she could, whispering words of encouragement into her daughter's ear. Inoichi, all the while, had actually heard every word of what Ino had just said, and mulled it over in the meantime. All the while Ino kept muttering things to herself like "I'm not a bad person", and "I do care". It took nearly ten minutes, but without any change at all in the setting, Ino had fallen asleep in her mother's arms. Amaya tucked the poor girl in gently, sighing at the sight of her tired, yet peaceful face, before she and Inoichi both left the room.

"I never would have thought... I mean, she's only seven, but..." Amaya, much like her daughter, was wordless. She showed obvious bedazzlement on her face, and even missed a step on the stairs, which her husband, bemused as he was, reacted to quick enough.

"Well, Ino's definitely... hmm..." Inoichi was at a loss of words himself, but there was a difference. He was, by his expression, oddly pleased. It earned him a glare from Amaya.

"You could at least treat the situation a little more seriously... Your daughter did just have an anxiety attack after all. That WE, her own parents, staged. That 'I', her own mother, caused with ninjutsu!"

"Why so serious, dear? " Obviously, whatever intimidation tactic Amaya was playing at wasn't working. "Ino has a big heart. Bigger than she knows, even. I think that this was... perhaps, the hokage's most brilliant idea ever. Helping Ino to understand how to be a better friend... we may have just changed her future for the better. Margarita?" He asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "You don't look like you'll be able to sleep tonight."

Amaya sighed. "I just don't like how this happened... you heard Ino in there... I wish I didn't have to put her through that." Shaking her head, the auburn haired woman turned to look into the kitchen, where her husband had already started off to. Things were being set into motion now... things involving her own daughter, things that would most likely be out of her own hands, as well as her husbands... So stressful.

"...Actually, that Margarita sounds pretty good right now..."

* * *

Well, that's 1/4 chapters, there. I'll reproduce the second chapter soon enough. Hang in there, fans. And new fans, if you've never read it before, feel free to review.


	2. Chapter 2: The first hole

Well, here we go again, chapter 2. Should I be giving these titles?

As I stated before, I do not take full claim for this story as of right now. The original story, 'The Professional', written by 'Another kind of hero', has been adopted by me, with the author's permission, and so I will, in a sense, be picking up where the story itself left off. The way I understand it, the original author is currently unable to continue his/her work, and just the same, has lost interest in this specific idea, so I'll be taking up the original story idea, and running with it, in a sense.

Obligatory disclaimer goes here: I do not own Naruto.

That stated, let's continue.

* * *

As ecstatic as the night was for the Yamanaka family, not everyone was having such a time. In fact, for once in what seemed a very long time, Konohagakure was actually quiet. Sure there were the gamblers who hung out at clubs, and the late night shoppers hoping to get everything they needed without having anyone crowd the lines, sure there were the diners that stayed open until midnight or later for that special couple, or couple. But other than that, Most of konoha was lulled asleep at this point, resting for the day to come. Everyone was sleeping... everyone, except the shinobi and anbu who stood guard over the place, at least.

They were the silent protectors of the night. They were the guardians of konoha. The proud, brave ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu warriors of the world... the shinobi of the leaf. There was a saying, one that represented the true honor and strength of a konohagakure ninja by comparing it to a flame... the honorable, steadfast...

"This job is killing me... why did I pick night hours...?"

...Ninja.

"Quit your complaining, Haru... it's guard duty. It's not even hard!" Haru was a 24 year old insomniac. His family, a long line of shinobi from the older ages of konoha, had decided for him at a very young age, that when he grew up, he'd become a ninja. And so, he became one. He grew to be a chuunin, and eventually passed the jonin qualification. Deciding to take up a steady position in the konohagakure defense system, Haru applied, and became a guard of the eastern gates of the village. Yes, Haru thought this was an excellent job for him, as his grandfather had been a gate guard, and said the job was always exciting. It meant that Haru would be a part of the great defense that held konoha safe! He even applied for 10 hour night shifts, seeing as most nights he couldn't sleep anyway. And thus, he ended up with the job he had now; Eastern guard duty along with his assigned co-worker, Chozu Hishiori.

"It's not even hard, he says... I wish it was, all we ever do is sit here and pick on travelers..."

He couldn't have hated his job anymore than he already did. He felt ripped off, in a sense. He took a job as a gate guard because he thought there would be action involved! Yet, the only action he ever did see was a weary traveler every now and again... or a monk. God, he hated monks. And to top it off, Konoha's east gates saw the LEAST amount of travelers and newcomers of all four gates! More animals even passed in front of the other guys than what they saw here! It was an annoying, taxing job, made worse by Choza, who was so much a realist that anytime Haru had even the slightest idea of entertainment, the slightest hair-brained scheme, he'd shoot it down instantly.

"Haru, we don't 'pick' on travelers..." Choza, who much like Haru had taken a comfortable position sitting on the ground at the side of the large eastern gates, spoke up in a rather tired, yet admonishing tone. He, unlike Haru, was not an insomniac. He had as much energy as a sloth at the moment, and the fact that Haru wouldn't shut up and let him rest wasn't helping him much. For the three years that they'd worked together, he never understood why exactly Haru continued to put up with this job if he disliked it this much. He always complained, constantly, and it always brought Choza to ask that very question, which Haru would reply with a small, "It's complicated." It never failed. "We interrogate them, not pick on them. We can't just let anyone into Konoha, you know that."

Haru glared at his partner. "Oh yeah? Well what about that woman from last week? You remember, miss "Tonya", was it? The one with the rack?" Choza didn't respond immediately, but after a few moments he looked away with an upset, embarrassed face. How could he not remember that woman!? She had the most perfectly sized, naturally shaped body he'd ever seen in his life, outside of magazines. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her long enough to help Haru, who noticed she had a blade poised up her sleeve, to detain her. "Look, that was... a moment of weakness. I mean, really... she was freaking hot."

Hearing this, Haru, who'd been watching his reaction triumphantly, stopped and chuckled. "Well... I can't lie there, Amen to that." A smirk took the place of his glare, which melted away mid-sentence. "I mean, really... she was like something out of a damn movie... Too bad she had the grace of a flopping moose." Haru had long since forgiven Choza for being so wrapped up in thought that day. After all, the girl wasn't even really a threat. She attempted to stab Haru so sloppily that she nearly cut herself in the process. "I wonder what happened to her..."

Choza looked up, apparently contemplating this. "I was never informed that she was executed. Probably still under Ibiki's custody, if I had to guess." He said blankly. Haru shivered. Ibiki... now that was a terrible fate, to have him of all people overlook your execution. Whatever beauty the woman had... Haru now imagined that she no longer retained. After all, Ibiku was Konoha's top rated special Jonin in terms of interrogation... his methods, sometimes more mental than physical, could leave a person scarred for life... well, so much for miss Tonya.

"You know, if I was in the interrogation squad, I might have been able to secure a private session with her before Ibiki got her..." Haru said, a sudden smirk coming to his face while he looked to Choza, who rolled his eyes... both men missing the fact that a few feet away, something moved.

"You know, if I was in the anbu black operations unit, I might just have had to kill you for saying that." Choza responded with a dead serious tone. Moments passed, and both men stared each other down for a moment's time... before equally suddenly bursting out with laughter. They may not have been common on much ground, but Haru and Choza were friends enough... in there own special way. And so, they laughed, and laughed. And they laughed until something suddenly caught odd, shocking even, caught there attention.

There were three voices. Someone was laughing with them.

Both men suddenly jumped up from there sitting positions, scrambling to there feet with haste and looking around to locate the owner of the third voice, the owner of that mysterious, eerie laugh that continued now, even though both men had stopped laughing and the situation had lost it's humor. It didn't take them too long, however, before they found the voice, seeing as it came from in front of them, only 15 feet away.

To say the figure looked like a wraith was an understatement. It stood at seemingly 7 feet tall, covered in a cloak that was so tattered and ripped that it seemed as the the darkness itself was covering him. The shoulders of the cloaked figure were shrugged over, giving off the obviously lanky look. From beneath the hood of the cloak, snow white hair could be seen... though it was so lifeless, so limp that it simply draped out, individual hairs splitting at the ends. But most noticeably, hair aside, was the fact that the man beneath the cloak was... smiling. Odd enough.

"You there! State your name! What business do you have hear in Konoha?" Choza beat Haru to the point, speaking up while the young man was still grabbing his trusty kunai from it's pouch. The look of seriousness in Choza's eyes was prudent... any sign of weakness seemed to have disappeared for the moment. He was on guard now.

And then, just like that, the cloaked man took him off his guard again.

"KWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The figured practically shrieked, scaring both Haru and Choza into nearly pummeling him with kunai and shuriken. Both men seemed evenly unnerved now, and apparently this fact alone gave the cloaked man a bit more confidence as he stepped forward now. "Name, irrelevant. Business? I haven't figured that out just yet... bite me." He said with such a smooth, suave tone.

Haru and Choza face faulted.

"...Very funny... But if you have no business here, then please move along." Haru spoke up this time, as Choza was still recovering from the sheer ridiculousness of this man. He stood a bit more ready now, prepared not to get thrown off by any of this man's... eccentricities.

"Oh, right. I'll just head on home now. You know, you ninja have no manners... It's the middle of the night dumbass, where am I s'posed to 'move along' to!? You see a 'sleep in' Inn anywhere within 47 miles of here? I don't! As a matter of fact, I've circled this place five times, and I don't see anything but forests! This is stupid... Iwa and Sunagakure were the same, but at least THEY were more polite than you damn bush-heads! Not even a 'Well, it's nighttime, why don't you stay the night?' Noooo... Pencil pricks..." Haru couldn't believe his ears. What... in the hell was this man's problem!? Was he really ranting off because he told him to leave? And-- did he call him a pencil prick!? Steam pouted from his ears representing how low his fuse was, and if it hadn't been for Choza, who'd been holding him back at this point, he probably would have beat this guy to death twice now.

"Look, _sir_," Choza started this time, aggravated as well, though not to the extent of his partner, "We aren't excepting any new travelers at these hours. Now I don't know where exactly you came from, but you don't look you've traveled far. Now I'm going to have to ask you... _nicely_... to turn back and leave now, otherwise--"

Suddenly, the world became dark. As if the moon had been eclipsed completely, and the sun, which gave it it's light, had stopped shining. So much of what illuminated the world around him had vanished, and only the three men remained. A dark, cold feeling overran Choza's entire body, numbing him to a point where he no longer even knew if he was actually alive. His vision blurred, and he could barely tell now who or what he was looking at; green edged at his eyes, letting him know at least that his body had fallen to the floor. What was happening? His eyes darted around, trying to assess the situation, as they were the only part of his body that would respond. He could make out the vision of Haru, laying lifelessly on the floor just as well, though his vision got blurrier still. He tried to speak, to scream, to do anything, but his body wouldn't let him... it had shut down. The last thing that his eyes could make out now, not even a foot away from his face, were a pair of eyes... deadly, red eyes. And then, the world went completely black.

"Hey, you two, are you okay? You seem a little unconscious at the moment... sleeping on the job, maybe?" Standing above both men, with an oddly misplaced look of surprise on his face, was the cloaked man, who's white hair had fallen all over his face now. His was a look of such satisfaction that it almost seemed surreal. Mingled black clothing flowed over his body as the wind blew once, and he looked up to the upper part of the gates, making sure that there were still no guards on patrol at this exact moment. He had been smart about this. He'd been constantly waiting, watching the guards and he'd found that during the night shift, when the upper stationaries were switching active guards, it took them the longest... leaving the eastern gate near completely exposed.

"It's been far too long since I've last visited... it has grown far too quiet here." The hooded man spoke to no one in particular as he stepped over the body of the still sleeping Eastern gate guards. His eyes, like pools of darkness, took in the great sight of the wall surrounding Konohagakure, before a smile suddenly played on his face. With that, he pulled forth from his pocket a small vial of dark red... glowing liquid, and held it up to his face, so that it may illuminate the features of his face... his dark skin, his white eye brows, and that eerie... eerie smile.

"It's time to shake things up again... Heheheheheh... Hahahahahahah!!"

* * *

Morning washed over konoha with a lovely glow. The light of a new day peaked from the mountaintops, shimmering down from the great monument to the four lords of the leaf, and blessing the village with it's warmth. It truly looked spectacular, the sight of dawn's break, a sight which not many people were allowed to see. It came at such a time when most of the world was asleep, still quietly tucked away in there comfy beds, hugging there favorite pillow, dreaming of dreams unknown. But those who did get to see it could say that it was a sight second to practically only one. It was a shame, one Inoichi Yamanaka once thought, that people could overlook something so beautiful.

Well... not as beautiful as his wife's sleeping features, of course. He stood beside their bedside, fully dressed and clothed in his standard konohagakure jonin attire, looking down at the woman of his dreams, lying still peacefully asleep under lavender covers. She had the perfect, cherubic face in his own mind, made more gorgeous by her ever flowing, beautiful auburn hair. The perfect woman... his perfect woman, at least, and he wouldn't dare change a single thing about her. His gaze upon her falter only a little as she suddenly began to stir, something that no matter how trained he was, continued to catch him off guard. Slowly, gracefully, Amaya opened her eyes in a oddly confused, blissful way. It took her a moment to adjust to the light, Inoichi figured. He sat down onto the bed next to his wife, and with his left hand, he moved to caress her cheek. Amaya didn't draw away from this at all, nor was she caught off guard by it; in a sense, you could say she was awaiting it.

"Good morning, love." She spoke.

"Good morning, love." Inoichi enjoyed the simple things in life. Being here, alone with his wife beside him, while the light of dawn creaked into there window... it was all he really could ask for. They sat there for a moment's time, simply enjoying each other's presence while Amaya, who was still half-asleep, tried to wake herself.

It didn't take long. Amaya was a morning person.

"Well," She said suddenly with a voice full of energy, looking to her husband with a smile, "Are you ready for today?" Inoichi, who smiled back to her, merely shook his head and shrugged. "I 'am' wearing my lucky boxers..." He said with a small chuckle, tilting his head. Amaya smirked to this, having had to bite back quite the sassy comeback here. Instead she literally 'jumped' out of bed like a 10 year old ready for school, while Inoichi watched, admiring her energy which, he had to admit, sometimes just came from pretty much nowhere.

"I don't think I'm ready for today though..." She said with her first sigh of the day, looking to the ceiling for a moment's time before looking to the floor. Inoichi, who looked a little confused, shrugged once more. "Well, dear... you're still wearing a night gown." He said with something of a smirk to his lips. Amaya turned and gave him her patented 'sun-heated' glare. Inoichi's response was automatic; he threw up his hands in defense, almost as though saying 'Just kidding'.

"You know what I mean... I don't know if I'm ready for what's coming today." She said with a sudden seriousness to her tone, looking to Inoichi with worried eyes. Inoichi understood the subject instantly. Ino. "...I don't know if I really want to continue and go through with this..."

"We could always quit. It doesn't change much." Inoichi blatantly said. Amaya glared once more.

"No, that's not what I mean, and you know it. It's Ino I'm worried about, not Naruto... I'm worried that this might be too much for her... you saw what a state she was yesterday, and I haven't even told her the news yet... she's still so young, I dunno how she'll take it." Amaya's voice sounded strained; half of herself wasn't even sure she wanted to argue this point. Inoichi, who long since recognized what Amaya was getting at, stood up.

"Ino is seven years old... she's getting top marks in her classes, and from what I can tell, she's going to be a talented Yamanaka. I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew, much less if she came to you about it before you came to her about it. The world has a plan, Amaya, a balance... I'm sure everything will work out." He said reassuringly, smiling warmly to his wife. Amaya, in response, looked to him and slowly, the worry on her face melted.

"I do hope you're right." She said quietly. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a playful smirk came to her face with an odd idea.

"But just in case... want to help me find my lucky bra?"

* * *

The rest of the morning was, oddly, more of the same in the Yamanaka home. Ino woke up at 7:00 am as she normally would, got out of bed, showered, got dressed and was ready for the day by 9. She greeted her parents at the table, who responded just as well. The only out of place question was her mother's "Did you have a good night's sleep?", which Ino stopped, contemplated, and afterwards smiled and nodded to. Once again, Amaya out did herself with breakfast, laying out a hearty meal for her family. And just like normally, Inoichi fixed himself quite a big plate. He did love her cooking, after all. However, unlike usual, Ino, who normally only ate a little, fixed a nice plate for herself as well, something which both Inoichi and Amaya had to stop and look to each other to understand. Ino normally never really ate... normally she dieted, despite her age, saying that eating too much would ruin her figure... which both her parents could never understand.

She was seven, afterall. Who could she possibly want to look good for?

Breakfast was mostly eaten in what was a suddenly uncomfortable silence for Amaya and Inoichi... Amaya more so. It was, as they say, now or never time for her. She had figured that now was the best time for her to talk with Ino about... 'it', while she had their whole family together. She said she would talk now, while she had Ino here with her... but her mind was, at the moment, a complete blank. She was choking, in a sense, scared and uncertain of how to bring this up... or how her daughter would respond to it... but the silence was just as horrible... She couldn't make a decision, and thus, the silence continued.

Inoichi rolled his eyes. "Ino... have you ever considered having a little brother?"

Amaya had stuffed her face so full of bread that she made herself incapable of of reacting to this question with any sound of some sort. Her hands, which had been peacefully sitting atop the table, were now shaking in a very uncomfortable way. She took every bit of self restraint within her soul and committed it to staying calm, quiet, and not speaking a single word that might upset the current conversation. Ino looked up from her food, having been eating a side dish of rice, and oddly enough, simply shrugged.

"Yeah, I thought about it once."

Inoichi smiled. Amaya looked as though she would faint. There was no turning back on this now. "Ah. Do you like the idea of it? Having someone else around the house so you aren't the only one here most times?" How nicely worded the question was. The older man was just as suave as he normally was. Ino tilted her head at the question, as though actually considering this. Within a few moments, however, she simply shrugged once more.

"It sounds okay, I guess."

"I see." Inoichi surprised himself. He didn't figure that this conversation was going to go so smoothly... he had always thought that if asked, the girl would have immediately shot the idea down. Inoichi liked to think that he had his daughter figured out at times. The only child type, a person who surrounded herself with others around her age. Popular, cunning, smart, but perhaps selfish at times, closed-minded... This 'Yeah,' this 'okay, I guess'... this was weird, different... it wasn't like Ino to ever say 'I guess'. She was too decisive for 'I guess'. Amaya seemed to have picked up on this too, Inoichi noticed, as the panicking look on her face, changed to a more... serious, worried one. Inoichi decided not to press this, and continued on.

"Well, the reason I asked was because... your mother and I were considering having another child." Inoichi said calmly, almost timidly, his eyes locked on Ino for any sudden move, anything at all that would or could suffice as a reaction to his words. "We had the idea playing in our heads for a little while, and... we wanted to know what you thought about having a sibling around." A part of him expected confusion, and another part of him expected Ino to return his gaze full of obvious disdain at the idea. Actually... a large part of him expected the latter... but not one bit of him, nor any part of Amaya, expected what she did respond with.

"That'd be okay, I guess." Ino said blankly, taking another bite of the fish she'd picked, not looking up.

Rarely did Inoichi ever get frustrated. It just wasn't like him. He was a calm, cool, suave, laid back guy who, in most people's opinion, was never caught off guard by anything. Amongst his peers, he was known for two things; his cool, and his resilience to any sort of throw-off situation. And yet, without much energy, his very own daughter had managed to defeat him on both his best areas of his persona. Inoichi... was frustrated. 'I guess'. He didn't know what to make of Ino at the moment... whether she was purposely trying to be carefree about the subject to get back at him for something... Or if she really just didn't care. Whatever the case was, it deeply disturbed Inoichi, who now ran a single hand through his hair in confusion. Amaya was seeing something that she'd only seen once in her life before, and that was on her wedding day... she was seeing her husband, unnerved.

"...Ino, is something wrong?" Amaya finally found her voice, and at good timing; Inoichi looked as though he was out of ideas. Her daughter looked up from another mouthful of rice, and as though she hadn't just been acting the strangest she'd ever been, she titled her head in confusion.

"Umm... No, I don't think so." She said blatantly, as if it were a dire question. Amaya frowned, not noticing the fact that her food was going cold. She looked straight into Ino's eyes now, looking for any such form of emotion, something like hurt or pain... she found nothing but the regular old Ino looking back at her. "Are you sure...? I mean... your father just asked you if you were okay with us having another child in the family..." She stated as though Ino hadn't heard him clearly enough.

"I know. And I said I'm okay with it." Ino responded simply. Inoichi had long since given up on trying to evoke something... anything out of Ino, and as such, he'd gone back to eating... obviously dumbfounded. Amaya, who now found herself in the same position as her husband, stared confusedly at Ino for a moment, before nodding. "O-oh... I see." She said quietly before going back to her own food, and taking to her soup before it got any colder.

It was a minute's time before anyone said anything else.

"...So who were you planning on adopting?" Ino finally said.

Inoichi, who'd been half way through eating a fish, choked. Amaya, who so luckily happened to have swallowed the spoon-full of soup she'd had, suddenly gasped harshly, her eyes widening in shock. She stepped back, almost knocking over her chair in surprise, before it suddenly donned on her that her husband was choking, and she rushed to his aid. All the while, Ino sat back and laughed her heart out the scene of this chaos theory in action. It took five minutes for both her parents to return to the table... and for her father to catch his breath again. "I-Ino..." Amaya started now, looking at her daughter with such shock and confusion that she wasn't sure she was really Ino anymore. The young blond girl shook her head, and then took another mouthful of rice.

"C'mon, I'm not stupid, Mom. I can tell when you're keeping secrets, and I know that you and dad have been taking trips off to the orphanage when I'm out with Sakura and my other friends." She said with such a triumphant smirk. Both of her parents were still staring at her oddly.

"But, how did you--"

"Naruto told me. Apparently you've been doing a bit of research on the kids there...?" This was such a moral victory for Ino. It wasn't even the afternoon yet, and she had managed to stump and shock BOTH her parents! Her father was a ninja... a JONIN no less, and she even confused him! And to think it was all thanks to Naruto that she'd figured it out... that boy had his moments, she supposed. She almost felt like getting up and doing a victory dance... but no, she wouldn't. She'd keep her cool. No need to taint this win.

"A-ah... Naruto." Inoichi sighed in realization as everything started to piece together for him. With a shrug of defeat, he looked over to his wife with a sheepish smile that literally said 'the jig is up', and shook his head. Amaya just sat back in her chair, mulling this over. Inoichi sure hadn't been kidding... Ino was a talented Yamanaka.

"So? Who were you looking up?" Ino asked again, seemingly back to her old self at this point. Her parents looked to each other yet again now, before looking to Ino cautiously yet again.

"Well Ino... are you sure you want to know? I mean, we haven't even finalized anything--"

"Oh come on! Tell me! It's not like I wouldn't find out eventually..." Ino smirked now, as both her parents cringed at this little statement. Oh yes... she would wave this victory over their heads for a long, long time. Slowly, Amaya looked to Inoichi this time, who in return simply nodded... he would be the one to tell her, he took it. So, he sighed, looked to Ino, and took a deep breath before letting out the truth.

"Well... It's Naruto." He said finally.

Silence.

"...What?" Ino blinked. Amaya flinched now. Inoichi simply watched her daughter's response. She showed obvious confusion on her face, quite obvious... Inoichi felt it best he continued.

"Ino, like we said, nothings been set in stone as of yet, we just went in for an interview of him and told him not to tell you. We haven't finalized anything--" Ino cut him off here... but oddly, not in the way he'd expected. He expected an uproar, an immediate shout out against this. He expected her to disagree, to argue it as hard as she could... after all, she and the young boy never did see eye to eye...

However, he found himself interrupted by a... smiling Ino.

"D-dad, wait, wait, it's okay!" She tried to stop him, her head tilted to the side in embarrassment. He sure had that excuse ready... He was waiting for her to show even the slightest dislike towards it, Ino guessed. Was he really expecting her to say 'No I don't want him, you aren't allowed to adopt him'? When Ino thought it through, it almost hurt as much as she thought it funny. Her parents were actually about to ask her permission for something she really had no control over. "I-I really don't have any problem with that. I think it's... a good idea." She said after pausing, maintaining her smile.

Amaya's eyes widened; you could almost see the shadow of a tear in them. Inoichi sighed in relief. And Ino watched them both, once again concluding that they must have been planning this for a pretty long while... breaking it to her must have been the hardest part of their whole little scheme. How mischievous her parents could be. "I'm... surprised, Ino..." Her mother spoke up, a small smile on her face. "I didn't think you'd accept the idea at all... I'm so surprised." Ino shrugged.

"Is it bad that I accepted it?" Her mother immediately shook her head, and with that confirmation, Ino continued. "Yesterday, when I was talking with the hokage... I think I realized something. I realized that Naruto's not... as annoying as most make him out to be. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the fact that maybe there's more to him than what everyone gives him credit for..." She paused, trying to word her sentence in a proper way. "I think... what dad said about Naruto yesterday is kinda true... I think maybe he really does just act out because he wants to be noticed. But people don't like the way he acts, so they don't like him... but at least they notice him. That's how I think Naruto thinks." Ino took a moment to contemplate what to say next. "...But maybe that's not the kind of noticing he wants, I think he really just wants... acceptance. I dunno... acknowledgment. Hokage-sama asked me, if I could change one thing about Naruto, what would it be? And I was scared to answer then, but I think my best answer is that... well, maybe if Naruto had a family, and people who actually cared... maybe he wouldn't be so much the way he is." Ino finished with a sigh.

Quite frankly, her parents were blown away. Inoichi was debating whether to scream out a 'Huzzah' for the fact that someone else finally shared his common viewpoint of the boy, or to simply walk over to the other side of the table and embrace his brilliant daughter. Amaya, on the other hand, was so taken aback by this sudden outburst of overwhelming insight that she was on the verge of crying proudly for her daughter. Whatever the case was, Ino, who sense the room about to get a bit too... 'sentimental' for her liking, pushed back her chair and stepped down from her seat, stretching.

"Whatever's the case, it's your choice, mom, dad. Breakfast was great, thanks mom." She said brightly, before stepping away from the table. "I'm going to go see if I can catch up with Shikamaru and Choji now, ok? I'll be back later!" She called behind her, as she'd already gone to go put on her shoes, and much energy to burn, headed out the door. Now alone in the house, Inoichi and Amaya stared at each other from their places still sitting at the table for a while. It was a minute's time before either spoke.

"...I told you so." Inoichi said with a smirk, standing and gesturing to his pants. "Lucky boxers. They never fail."

* * *

Finding Shikamaru and Choji proved harder than expected for Ino for the first time in years. Normally, the duo of sloth and gluttony could have been found at the nearest barbecue to either one's house; either there, or they'd have been lounging around under any given canopy, staring at passersby. The beauty of this was that either location was so random, so vague, that if you hadn't been hanging out with them to begin with, it was near impossible to track them down. That, and the fact that they never really did stay in one place for too long... It really put things in perspective for Ino, for once in her life. Ironic, almost, how any other day they'd come and find her, and yet the day she actually went looking for them, they were nowhere to be found. It was disheartening, even, because some part of the blond girl felt as though they were avoiding her. They'd never done something like that before... they were, after all, like the three amigos.

Ino searched, and searched, and searched until she couldn't think of just about any place they'd normally frequent. Seeing as neither was home, she knew they had to have been somewhere... she stopped near midday to take a break at the small riverside in the eastern district of konoha, catching her breath. That was some serious running around, anyway, for 2 hours...

"O-Oi! Ino, there you are!" She had been staring off into the river's ever calm waters when she'd heard the familiar voice of a rather... chubby friend. She looked up, turned around as she stood, and sure enough, not too far away from her position by the riverbank was Choji and Shikamaru... and oddly enough, accompanying them today for the first time in a while from Ino's honest memory, was... Naruto.

"I told you she'd be here." Said blond boy said triumphantly, a large grin on his features. Choji shrugged, looking to his side at the boy curiously. "You weren't kidding, either; she was right in this place! You sure know your stuff Naruto." Choji praised the boy, who beamed back at him in response. Shikamaru, on the other hand, simply shook his head. "Who would have thought... Naruto, of all people, using his head for once. Miracles happen, I guess." He said with a slight smirk, which earned him a prompt bonk on the head, courtesy of the blond boy. Ino merely shook her head, chuckling under her breath.

"How'd you know I'd be here anyway? I never told anyone I was gonna stop here." Ino asked, genuinely curious at Naruto's sudden tracking skills. In response, the boy tapped himself on the head, as if gesturing to his brain.

"You and Sakura normally hang out over here, don't you? Choji asked if I'd seen you around, and I said, 'well if she's not with you... maybe she's with Sakura'? And sure enough! Hah, and they said I'm not a thinker!" Ino looked oddly surprised, and yet, impressed with the answer. The oddest thing was, Ino never did actually realize how much she tended to frequent this place, with Sakura or without. The nicest daisy flowers grew out here, by the river, and she'd always liked to come and look at them... Interesting. Even more interesting, was that to Ino's best memory... this was her little secret hideout...

"Oh? So tell me then, does that mean you've been stalking us, 'cause I don't remember ever bringing you here..." A smirk grew on Ino's face suddenly as she spoke, having elicited just the exact reaction she'd wanted out of Naruto. He flushed, almost instantly, and Choji and Shikamaru, unable to control themselves, exploded into laughter.

"W-wait a minute, I'm not--" Naruto tried to defend himself, but Ino cut him across the point.

"Or perhaps you came out to smell the flowers, huh Naruto?" She continued, baiting the boy further.

"No! I'm-- what are you trying to say!?" He almost yelled back, which, oddly enough, was enough to make Ino begin to laugh herself.

"Oh, nothing... STALKER!" The girl managed to get out before joining Choji and Shikamaru in complete laughter.

"Quiet! I'm not a stalker!" Naruto returned, hot under the collar now, but Ino paid it no mind. She was... having fun. With Naruto. It was something she'd never... ever, done in her life before. Sure, she had planned on finding him at some point today and taking some time to sit and talk with him for once, but this was so much better. It was... nice. She couldn't explain it, but sitting here now, getting him riled up like this out of sheer fun... Ino felt silly that there was a time in which she wouldn't have been caught dead doing this. Shikamaru and Choji could probably never account to this; Shikamaru never really tried in class, so he earned grades just as low as Naruto last year... and Choji, well, he was never the most popular kid in school anyway. From what Ino gathered, the three of them were always pretty much just outcasts from the start... and with at least that in common, they must have found some form of kinship with one another. Needless to say, Unlike Ino, neither really had much of a problem with the boy. Ino was coming to envy that... the fact that her two friends probably had a better relationship with the boy she never really wanted to know than they might have had with her... Ino didn't want to think of that at the moment. Right now was her time to have fun, and that's what she did; have fun. They all did.

So much so, that none of them happened to notice a certain cloaked figure standing off in the distance, eying them all, especially Naruto, with curiously deadly crimson eyes. He sat and watched for a while, a blank look on what could be seen of his face. Before long, however, he shook his head, a small smirk on his face as he turned and left the scene of the river bank, unnoticed.

Time passed. Before long, the sun had passed a bit over there heads... Ino assumed it must have been at least 3, maybe 4 in the afternoon now. The four of them had tired themselves out. What was at first a simple back and forth between Ino and Naruto evolved into his chasing her around the river, which evolved into Naruto's first ever four-way water fight between himself, Ino, Choji, and an agitated Shikamaru. Eventually, they settled on a truce, and Ino agreed to drop the subject of Naruto's voyeurism (yes, he went from stalker to voyeur, thanks to Shikamaru) so long as he agreed to stop dunking her. Honestly, that boy truly never ran out of steam, even in the water. They lay out in the fields, staring up at the clouds and trying to guess what each cloud closest resembled. It was when Naruto noted that one particular cloud looked like a family of clouds put together that Ino suddenly felt a sudden stiffening in her chest, which was followed by a small smile and a nod of agreement.

"A-Ah! Speaking of families, I gotta get going back to the orphanage!" Naruto suddenly recollected with a frown, sitting up from off the ground and standing hastily. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru looked to him confusedly. "I've never seen you in such a hurry to head back to the orphanage," Choji muttered, obviously astounded. "Something good going on? A party?" Naruto was debating answering him or just running off to make sure he wasn't late. He settled on a crossroads of the two.

"Choji, no! Oh crap, I was having so much fun I forgot to mention it!" He spoke recklessly, hoping up and down excitedly as though given the slightest chance, he'd book the scene. "Choji, Ino, Shika-- Someone came in and arranged an INTERVIEW with me! ME! I-I might get adopted!" He looked to there faces for their responses, and wasn't disappointed. Choji literally popped up off of the ground, a most impressive act considering who it was, and spun so he could face Naruto and give a giant "WHAT!?" Shikamaru, on the other hand, looked actually... surprised... and excited. For the first time in history. "N-Naruto, that's- that's great news!" Shikamaru spoke in a still disbelieving tone; it was just like he'd said earlier then... miracles do happen.

It was Ino who still lay back on the ground, simply looking up at Naruto with a knowing smile. It felt so right to be in the 'know' about things for once in her life. Naruto wasn't going to an interview. He was going to talk with her mother and father, and then he was going to be a part of her family. That was no interview by Ino's standards.

"I can't stay for too much longer-- I dunno who these people are yet, they might be new in town, I don't know-- Guys, I'll catch up later-- Bye!" Each word, each fragment of a sentence was said between running steps. By the end of the sentence, he'd been nearly 20 ft. away, his voice a fleeting sound in the distance. Choji and Shikamaru watched him off the whole way, still mildly surprised that someone would adopt Naruto, even though it would obviously mean trouble for their family. Once he was gone, they simply looked at each other and shrugged, not truly knowing what to say at this point. That had been the biggest news they'd heard all day.

"Hmm... well, I'd better get going too. Mom is probably looking for me; I told her I'd be back shortly..." Ino yawned, physically drained for the moment's time, and stood up. Both Shikamaru and Choji looked to her now, as if she had something interesting that would top even Naruto's news. But she just shrugged, a serene smile on her face as she walked passed both of them. Nice one, Ino. They probably didn't even realize a single thing that had just happened just now.

"Now hold on a minute, Ino." Shikamaru spoke up suddenly, stopping the girl a few feet away from them. "You... you know something about this whole interview thing with Naruto?" He asked, obviously suspicious about the fact that for whatever reason, she was leaving now of all times... exactly when he did. With a deep breath, Ino turned on her heel to face the both of her friends, who waited expectantly for an answer. They got one... though they'd never truly realize it.

"How should I know? What do I look like, his sister or something?" She said finally, and with that she turned away and began walking again. She was leaving the boys in the dark about this for now, leaving them in silence, obviously contemplating this. And thats when suddenly, she remembered yet another thing that was on her agenda for the day. She stopped, closed her eyes, and sighed. Might as well get it off her chest...

"...Shikamaru, Choji...?" Ino slowly spoke up once, looking away at the sky. The aforementioned boys stopped, turned back around and looked at Ino with curious faces.

"...I'm Sorry."

* * *

Evening rolled in faster than expected. Ino made it home pretty much just in time for her mother and father to tell her that they were about to go ahead and leave for the interview with Naruto, and to tell her that they would be leaving her in charge of the store for a little while. It was a really big boost to the girl's pride for this to happen, as she'd never been left solely in charge of the store before... she'd helped out with the flowers around the place, and even co-cashiered with her mother before, but never had she run the store herself. She wasn't nervous, though. She knew all there was to running the store... growing up, she'd learned all the basics and the like, so it couldn't have been too hard, especially seeing as in the evening time, business slowed to a crawl. And so, saying their 'brb's, Inoichi and Amaya left for the orphanage, leaving Ino sitting at the front desk they'd made of their frontal room.

Oddly enough, Ino found herself wanting company more and more now, despite the fact that she knew that business would bring in much. No one came to buy flowers for what seemed like and hour... and Ino, who'd already been quite tired to begin with, sat down in the chair at the front desk and laid her head down, deciding that just a small little nap wouldn't hurt anyone... besides, who would steal from a flower shop...? Slowly, her mind began to wander, her thoughts fading away...

A jingle could be heard from the doorway of the shop. Ino's head shot up out of reaction, and as if she'd been rehearsing the lines forever, the girl automatically spoke without even looking to see exactly who it was.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop! Today we're having a special on violets, where if you... buy..." A small shiver ran down the girl's spine suddenly, as he eyes adjusted to the figure in the doorway. Her voice cut off, and her eyes, which had been heavy-lidded and dazed, now snapped to attention. Standing there in the doorway, as quiet as the breeze outside, stood a tall, cloaked man. Ino couldn't see or tell much about him at all... white hair lifelessly lay flat outside of the hood of the cloak, some of it covering his face just a bit. All that could be seen of his face was his lips... which had a small, quaint smile playing on them.

"Hi, hi, little blond." He spoke in an even tone. "Is the sole proprietor of this flower shop home right now?" Ino took a moment before responding.

"I'm running the shop right now." She said curtly. "How may I help you?"

The man stopped and, oddly enough, took a moment to think that statement through. "How can you... help me... well..." He scratched his hooded head in obvious confusion... which, funnily enough, confused Ino in return. "...I don't exactly know how you can help me." The girl face faulted. Was he being serious!?

"...What did you come here for, then...?" She tried to maintain the even tone in her voice... she already didn't trust this hooded man as things were, and his strange attitude wasn't gaining him any points. Shrugging, the cloaked man smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I was actually looking for some wolf's bane, if this store sells any." He said honestly, looking around.

"Wolf's bane?" Ino repeated. "I've... never heard of it."

The man appeared to have been surprised, but Ino couldn't really tell from under his hood. He started pacing, making a 'tsk, tsk' sound as he did so. "My, that's unfortunate. Unfortunate that you've never heard of it, of course. Curious flower, the wolf's bane." He said with something of a shrug. "It has a green stem, and a bulb opening, much like a rose. However," He stopped here to make a odd sound, something like a mixture of a hiss and a sigh, "The petals, unlike a rose, are purple. Nice shade of purple too; much like the color of your outfit. Yes." He stated blatantly. Ino looked down at herself stupidly; she'd somehow forgotten that she'd been wearing her normal outfit.

"Anyway," He started again, catching her attention, "It's a pretty curious flower. You know, it smell something like a mixture of lavender and sea salts... or, well... that's how it smells to some, at least. Some say that it smells like morning dew. Hmm. Dew. Yes. But the problem is... not a lot of people know what the wolf's bane... actually smells like. Yes." He continued pacing, making the strange sound once more as he walked. "You see, as many people have claimed they've smelled it as have people who actually have... so how do you tell who knows how it actually smells?" He asked now, which Ino obviously had no answer to. Shrugging, he continued. "It's actually quite simple. You see... people who have actually smelled... smelled wolf's bane's true smell, die. Plain and simple. So no one 'alive' knows what it smells like, they say. Yes..." He stopped for a moment, looking down at a yellow rose in a vase. Ino, who'd been listening quietly, was about to speak up now, but the man cut her off.

"You want to know... why people who smell it die." He said blankly, licking his lips for no reason in particular, not looking up from the vase. Taking her silence as a yes, he continued. "Well, miss lady, It's a funny story, actually... people go off looking for this mysterious flower out of sheer curiosity. They travel off into forests of a temperate weather, because that's where... they grow." Making the strange sound again, he looked up from the flower he was staring at, and continued. "They go out, and they explore. They look... everywhere." Here, he made a jazzy wave of his hands to reiterate his point. "And then, when they give up hope of finding it, suddenly... there's a smell within the air... it's very attractive. Like honey and pure pheromones... nectar that you really can't understand why you want to smell it... The smell isn't very strong, it's feint... but you want more of it. You want to smell it, taste it, feel it... your body suddenly thinks to itself that it 'needs' this smell... you try to follow it, but the... smell, never grows stronger. Makes you do crazy things, when something you want is just out of reach." He wheezed, but continued. "Before you know it, the world goes black, except your immediate surroundings. You can't hear anything. Your blood runs cold... but you can't feel it, because your body is numb from top to bottom, except for your eyes... you can still move your eyes... and close by, you see something on the ground... vines... yes. And on the vines...? Well, theres... a umm... purple bulb. Every few centimeters on the vine... it's covered with purple bulbs."

Ino's eyes widened. The entire story had now sent her heart racing. "...Then... the wolf's bane..." She couldn't finish the question. The cloaked man smiled, though it was unnoticeable for the most part. "Oh, yes. Yes. I must have forgotten to mention it at first. Wolf's bane is quite poisonous. The venom is comparable to that of a black mamba snake. Yes, quite a terrible fate get poked by a thorn of wolf's bane. Yes... Yes. Actually, it's quite horrible to actually smell it as well. The scent of a Wolf's bane flower is laced with a paralyzing agent, you should know. It's named appropriately, if you think about it. Hariyama Koyosuke, dead heir to the fallen dragonfly country, named the wolf's bane for it's ability to 'lure it's prey unto vulnerable grounds, and finish it off.' Moon wolf tactics, I've learned. Yes. Terrible. The poison of a wolf's bane is thus far fatal at touch, as there's never been a single person to take a wolf's bane's stem fluids and create an anti-venom. True fact." He said finally, looking outside. It had grown quite dark. Ino took some time to recover from the story, but when she did, something suddenly dawned on her.

"H-hey, wait a minute...!"

"You want to know why I asked if you sold it, if it's so lethal." He said, cutting her off again. "Very simple. It's still sold none the less, you know. Only the strongest men... or otherwise, harvest it, though." He said matter-of-factly. Ino still frowned. He saw this and chuckled lightly. "But why would you have it? Well two reasons, one being that it does... grow... in the nearby forests..." Ino blinked, shocked at this revelation, but he continued. "And reason two... simple. Because I believe that the sheer curiosity of humankind will forever cause humans to be unable to understand that there are unstoppable... yes... un-tamable forces in this world which... if you try to control... only make you corrupt."

"Corr... upt?" Ino repeated blankly, not exactly understanding the man's reasoning. He nodded, and bent back down to once again examine the rose-filled vase. It seemed to have had his attention for the duration of the time, but he said nothing about it. "Nice design," He commented, shrugging once more. "I have... a common belief that people are born innately... senseless. Neither good nor evil. People just get... 'influenced', by everything around them. Everything has... influence. The problem is simply that it's not always good... to be influenced. If influence turns bad... you become corrupted. You'd think that means that a person being negatively influenced means that they're being corrupted... but there are positive corruptions as well, I like to think. Things that throw the balance of calamity out of whack... like gravity. You give it a push in the wrong direction and..." A small, light chuckle escaped his lips here, which caused Ino to shiver. He looked up from the vase again now, looking outside at this point, and then sighed.

"Time to go," He muttered in an almost dissapointed tone, looking back at the young blond now, for one of the first times since entering the store. Ino simply stared back, unsure of what to say at this point... and even if she did, like before... he probably knew what she would say before she said it. "Well, it was nice to have this little conversation with you... see ya around, miss lady." He said quaintly, with a small wave of his right hand, and then turned and left out of the store just as simple as he'd arrived.

Then, something interesting happened. As soon as the door began closing from his departure, it opened once more. A second person... or people, were walking in.

"Ino, we're back! We didn't take long, did we?" Entering the doorway of the flower shop were none other than Ino's parents, Inoichi and Amaya Yamanaka, who, from what Ino could tell with only the light of the room, looked quite pleased, and at the same time, amused with themselves. More so was her father bearing his ever-serene, amused smile than her mother, however, who showed a bit of relief upon walking in and seeing nothing out of order in the shop. "Did you have any customers while we were gone?" She asked, stepping in a little more so that Inoichi, who was holding a set of papers, could enter as well. Ino blinked in confusion.

"U-um, sorta... that one guy who just left, but we didn't have what he was looking for."

Inoichi looked up from the papers he was holding, while Amaya simply returned her daughter's confused look. "Hmm? What 'guy', Ino?" She asked, a proper question considering how vague the answer was. Ino, who thought her mother was kidding, smirked and shrugged. "You saw him, that cloaked guy that just left out of here! I don't even know who he was." Ino said. Her father actually had the sense to look back, back at the doorway, as though they'd missed something entirely now. Her mother simply held her confused gaze. That concerned Ino, a bit. "...You did see him, didn't you...? He- he couldn't have even been inches away from the door when you walked in!"

"...Ino," Her mother started in a weary way, looking to Inoichi as though he knew something she didn't, "We... didn't see anyone on our way in. No one." Ino looked almost baffled. That was impossible, to say the least. How could they have not seen that guy!? The door hadn't even closed from his leaving by the time they walked in. "But- but he was right there! He opened the door and left, and you two came following in afterwards-- the door, it wasn't even closed yet!" Ino blathered on, trying to justify her logic. Both her parents simply continued to stare.

"...Ino, we opened the door. There wasn't anyone there. Perhaps you were seeing something? And illusion? Are you sleepy at all, Ino?" Her father answered her, sending her deeper into absolute confusion. No way in hell did she imagine that guy! They had a whole conversation, afterall! She couldn't have imagined that... With a sigh, she shook her head and closed her eyes, attempting to clear her thoughts of the ordeal. Sadly, she hadn't been paying attention to the window at this particular point in time... as a man shrouded in shadows stared in it for a moment's time, before walking off, a smile on his face.

"Weird... whatever; anyway, how did it go? What happened? You- spoke with Naruto, right?" Ino's sudden bridling energy at the turn of the subject caused Inoichi, who'd looked back down at the papers he was holding, to smirk. Interesting, he thought, that yesterday this outburst would have been so shocking coming from her that neither of her parents would have believe it. Amaya shook her head, smiling a bit.

"Yes, yes, we spoke with him. Curious little boy, that Naruto; I never thought I'd see him shy in my lifetime. But we talked for a while, and I asked a few questions about how he'd feel with the whole 'adoption' scenario. All in all, I'd say that it went quite well. But he was... wet, oddly. Damp really, as he'd been trying to dry himself so rigorously; I asked him why he was so wet and he looked as though he'd have a heart attack out of fear, like he'd done something wrong... and it was interesting, all the while, to see the caretaker of the orphanage's face so filled with disbelief the whole time..." Amaya chuckled and trailed off, as though remembering a far off, peaceful memory...

"AND? Well, what's the verdict? Did he..." Ino couldn't imagine, for a moment, why Naruto wouldn't want to be a part of anyone's family. If there was anything, family seemed like something that Naruto of all people would want more than anything in this world, especially a family that loved and respected him as much as he could possibly want. There was no way he said no... right? The only thing he could dislike about the ordeal would be that... he'd have to be her brother. Ino internally cringed. She had no problem with the idea; but Naruto... the way she would normally treat him on a daily basis... sure, today they'd gotten along fine, but in his mind, did that make up for how Ino, whenever she was near him, treated him? "...Did he..."

Amaya seemed confused only for a moment's time, but it was overcome by a smile not too far afterwards. "He consented."

Once again, something like a giant burden had fallen from Ino's shoulders. "Ah- okay! That's great! Then- well, wait, so where is he then?" Ino deadpanned, shrugging and looking around. She obviously had no idea how adoptions worked, and as such her mother opened her mouth to try and explain this, but Inoichi cut her off.

"Well, it doesn't work like that, Ino. We can't just pick him and bring him home so simply. There's a 24 hour waiting period for the adoption to be finalized, as is konoha's law. So we have to wait a day before Naruto can... 'officially' be a part of our family. The waiting period really is just a reconsideration period, for if we change our minds, so until Friday, in a sense, we can't officially bring Naruto home." He spoke as though he were reading directly from a set of disclosed rules... which he was, actually.

"But- but you're not going to change your minds, right? He's really..." Amaya answered with a nod this time, and that was enough to make Ino sigh in relief. So this was really going to happen... Naruto was going to be a part of her family, her own brother... She'd had this idea play several times through in her head, but now that it was set, Ino honestly didn't know what to think.

Naruto... Yamanaka. Interesting.

"In the meantime," Amaya spoke up, a smirk rising on her face, "We, well... your father and I, were going to go and pick up Naruto tomorrow and maybe buy him some things... clothing, specifically." Her daughter tensed up instantly. Inoichi saw this, looking over to Amaya with an amused expression as to what she was up to now. Ino, who'd still been sitting up in the chair, jumped out of it, ran from behind the front desk of the shop, and looked to her mother with serious, fiery eyes. Her response was deadset.

"I'm _so_ coming." Heaven forbid another orange outfit enter this house under her watch!

* * *

And thus, Thursday passed, quite the successful day for Ino. Oddly enough, shopping for Naruto had been the only event of that day, but it took up the entire day just as well. And what an interesting day it was, from beginning to end. From breakfast, the trio of Ino, Inoichi and Amaya went off to go and pick up Naruto, already fully dressed and ready, at the orphanage... an awkward moment for the boy, seeing as the fact of the matter was that only hours from then, he'd be officially a part of their family... and, from what Inoichi had told him, Ino's _younger _brother. What a moment that was for Naruto; it became impossible, yes, impossible, for him to look Ino straight in the eyes after hearing this. She may have known about this beforehand, but Naruto was still attempting to take this in stride; something he wasn't very good at.

They proceeded to head directly into shopping by Ino's idea. She was the one who more than her parents, no... more than Naruto himself, wanted to supervise his clothes shopping. Which, for Naruto, was a bad thing. Seven outfits he'd gone through, _seven,_ were near immediately shot down by the blond-haired girl, almost all of them for the very same reason; orange. One outfit was a jumpsuit not too different from his own current one, except instead of blue, it was underlined and laced with black instead of blue. Another outfit consisted simply of an orange and black t-shirt, and casual orange shorts. A third outfit was a men's... er, boy's kimono, which was, yes, you guessed it, orange for the most part. Ino felt as though she'd go blind from all of the color.

"Look, Naruto," She started, trying to figure a way to press her point without... 'pushing' it on him, "You don't have to wear orange with everything you get! It's called shopping because you normally go out and get something you DON'T already have!" She said with a sigh, shaking her head. Naruto, holding his latest outfit in his arms, a flamboyant black, orange and red top with orange and blue shorts, 'hmph'ed at her analogy. Ino, he was noticing, was one of the worst people to take with you when buying clothes.

"I don't tell you what clothes to get." He said simply, but even after defending his opinion, he put the clothes away. "Besides, I'm blond, I need something that's going to match my hair!" He added, with a bit more energy now. Ino ran a hand through her own hair.

"It doesn't have to be bright because of your-- I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT TO GET!" What was going on? Naruto was so much easier to tease and play with yesterday, Ino couldn't figure out why now of all times it was so much more of a hassle to just talk with him. "I'm just saying that, well, there are other colors that go with blond hair. Like, purple, for instance!" She said almost suddenly, gesturing to her own outfit. Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "I mean, look at my outfit, the darker colors bring out the color of my eyes and my hair! Perfect example. Maybe some shades of purple would be better, hmm? maybe some blue might even--"

"I'm NOT wearing blue." Naruto cut her across sharply. He wouldn't dare be caught in the color blue... not like a certain uchiha who'd recently begun to wear it. He'd be darned if he wore blue now. "I like orange, so I'm sticking with orange, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind."

"O-oh yeah?" Ino taunted back, but in reality she was really running out of ideas. Naruto was a stern boy. When he said something, he stuck to it. She was finding out that it would be harder to make him change his mind then it would be to beat her father in an argument... something she'd yet to do as well. "W-well... You know... Sakura always liked purple better than orange."

Naruto, who'd been looking through a rack of clothes further back in the store, obviously heard this, as he suddenly shivered quite obviously, and looked up at Ino with a dirty look. "That's not fair, that was so below the belt!" He said haughtily before looking back down into the rack. Ino shrugged, realizing with annoyance that even this wouldn't be good enough to cut him from his... 'obsession' of the color. With that, Ino was practically out of ammo. She'd tried being nice, mean, sneaky about it... she couldn't think of anything else. With a sigh, she turned away from the boy in defeat.

"Jeez, Naruto... I mean, no one's going to want to talk to you with all that brightness at school..." Ino said blatantly, ans unknowingly delivered a blow so low to Naruto that he dropped everything that he'd been holding at the moment. If ever there was a 'slapped in the face' expression, Naruto's current one suited the bill perfectly. Ino, having heard him drop the clothes, turned back around half-expecting to see him on the floor sprawled out with a silly 'oops' expression on his face, but she found herself oddly enough met by dead-serious, hurt eyes. Ino hadn't even begun to register what had just occurred. "...Naruto?"

But for a brief moment, Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he looked down at the floor, his eyes burning with something akin to pain and anguish. Ino's words hit him hard, even from behind, and a part of him felt almost... 'scared' that they were true. "...You didn't... did you mean that...?" He said cautiously, looking back up at Ino with the most... sensitive set of eyes the girl had ever seen in her life. Now, she was sure she'd said something wrong.

_But what did I... All I said was that people might not--_ There. Ino noticed it almost immediately; she said that no one would talk to him. The rest didn't matter; she was sure that this was the part of her sentence that had caught Naruto's attention. She sat here now, almost ashamed of what she'd just said. "I... Naruto, I didn't mean you were, umm..." From what she could see of his face, her stuttering was not helping the situation at all. So, Ino sighed, and took a progressive approach. She walked to him, crossing the gap of a few clotheslines that separated them, and when she was close enough, she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. This act alone was enough to make Naruto, caught off guard, look up.

"Naruto, you're a cool kid." He looked to Ino with shocked eyes, and met her own smiling face. "I mean, sure, you've obviously got issues, but you're a cool kid past all of that. I really think that if you just didn't do stuff to push people away from you, you'd be alright." She said simply, and to the best of her ability, she did not look away from his eyes, which seemed to slowly revert to there calm, peaceful selves again. "...Seriously...?" Naruto asked yet again, although obviously in a different light. Ino's own smile brightened.

"Of course! I mean, there's some stuff you need to work on, of course, like I said, but... Hey, what are you doing?" Ino was going to suggest a few things, but now she felt offended. Naruto, in the middle of her speaking, had gone back to looking through clothes. When addressed, however, he stopped and looked back at Ino with an obviously confused expression, as though it wasn't the most apparent thing in the world.

"I'm... picking darker clothes?"

Yes, Ino considered the day quite successful indeed.

* * *

Finally, the day came. Friday. Ino woke up bright and early as she did normally... but not just for a relaxing morning. No, today, she woke up with a purpose. She was ready for the day to come now. The day that'd probably change her life forever. When she got out of bed, the first found that parents had already been dressed and ready, sitting downstairs in the kitchen. She muttered a 'good morning' groggily to them both, catching there attention quite easily.

"Oh, Ino, you've finally awakened." Inoichi spoke first, having just put down his cup of coffee coincidentally. "Me and your mother are ready to go already, so go on ahead and get ready, and we'll head on over to the Hokage's office while it's still early, okay?" He said assuringly, but apparently missed something seeing as Amaya, who'd been letting him speak, looked at him sharply all of a sudden. "Well, dear, she does have to eat something first, aren't you forgetting?" Inoichi blinked, looking to his wife curiously. "Really? I figured that her diet thing that she has going on wouldn't allow it." Amaya glared at him, and in return, he raised his hands defensively. "No, Ino is going to eat something first. Diet or not. This is an important day." She said with authority. Inoichi chuckled. "There's the possibility that she could be so excited that she might not want to eat. Ever figure that?" Amaya looked baffled. "Honestly, Inoichi, not everyone has as much energy as you do EVERY morning..."

Ino had long since left the kitchen, however, and neither noticed. She didn't need to be told to get ready; it was the only thing really on her mind at the moment... that, and how in god's name she was going to break the news to Shikamaru and Choji, and especially Sakura...

When Ino got dressed and ate (apparently Amaya won that argument), they headed straight for the Hokage's office, where they were, oddly enough, welcomed straight in without having to sign in, or even tell them of there appointment. It almost seemed to Ino that they had been expecting them to come... When they did reach the front door of the Third's own office, Inoichi found the door ajar. Odd. He knocked once, and was about to speak, before the strong, solemn, and... elderly voice of the Sandaime spoke up.

"Oh for goodness sake, Inoichi, come on in." Inoichi chuckled sheepishly now, and afterwards pushed the door open, revealing Sarutobi himself, sitting behind his desk with his traditional konohagakure robes on, hat and all. Ino could never... ever understand why, for the love of her, he wore it even indoors... Inoichi and Amaya bowed politely, and Ino, having blanked out for a moment, hurried to do the same. "Good morning, Hokage-sama." Amaya spoke first, a warm smile on her features. Needless to say, it was returned.

"I wish I had the pleasure of asking why you are all here this wonderful morning," He spoke now, putting out the simmer in his pipe as he had done before, "However, as I'm sure you've noticed from my assistant's willingness to allow you in, I have, actually, been expecting you." The man said in a mockingly serious tone. Ino giggled. She enjoyed listening to the Hokage talk, actually. His voice was older, but... so full of life and humor. It was hard for her to explain, but she felt... happier by simply being in his presence. "Ah," Inoichi nodded, looking back for a moment, "So that's why the door was slightly opened." The Hokage did not answer for a moment.

"...No, I must have simply forgotten to close it..." The very thought of it caused Ino to chuckle once more. Old man... "So then... you've taken to the idea of adopting Naruto." All three nodded to this. Sarutobi simply shifted some papers on his desk, stopping at one that he apparently needed now. "You've had 24 hours since the initial interview and agreement." He felt so stupid saying these things, knowing it would not change their minds. "Your decision now, what you tell me here and now, will finalize everything. Do you understand?" He said in an almost bored tone now. The three looked amongst one another now, before looking back to the Hokage.

"Lord Hokage-sama... we've made our decision." Amaya said quietly, Ino at her left side, and Inoichi at her right. The older man actually took a moment to take off his hat, apparently not wanting to miss a moment of what was going to be said next.

"And that decision is...?"

"...We wish to take Naruto into our full custody, as a member of the Yamanaka family." Inoichi finished. Sarutobi closed his eyes and let a peace reign over his body that he'd been unable to feel for seven years in the making now. He took a deep breath, and let it go, as if expelling the worries and clammed up feelings he'd accumulated to this period. The worst had come... and it had passed. It was over... Naruto would be safe now...

_...No, it's not over._ He corrected himself mentally. _It's only the beginning of a long road for him... but the first hole was the deepest of them all for him, and with it bridged, he'll... he'll make it. I'm sure of it And if there's nothing else I can do for him... I hope that this act makes the ultimate difference._ He nodded to himself, and then looked to Ino and her family, all of whom were awaiting anything else there was left to say... or rather, Inoichi and Amaya were the only one's waiting. Ino was practically ecstatic; trying to rally her parents on this was proving hard, though. What were they still so serious about?

"Of course... Now that he is to be a part of your family... it is time that I impart upon you, his family... Naruto's secret. " Sarutobi said quietly. Ino blinked and looked to him. "Secret? Naruto has a secret?" She asked blankly, looking from the hokage to her parents. Their returned glances, which almost immediately told her pay very close attention now, told her also that they must have known what was going on already.

"Yes, Ino. A secret... one that not even Naruto knows. One that is so important, that even speaking about it is enough to be considered a crime." Ino looked surprised, but did not speak. "Ino, you must promise me now, that this secret that I impart onto you, you speak of it to no one... no one at all. Do you understand?" He spoke calmly, slowly, but with more seriousness than Ino had ever heard. She immediately nodded, thinking she was ready for anything he could have thrown at her. Anything at all.

Boy, oh boy, was she wrong.

* * *

Second chapter uploaded. Look for the third chapter in a couple of days, very soon. Again, if you're new to the story/idea, feel free to review.


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